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Captain Holly
"You're Under Arrest!" - Holly to the Watership Down Warren Rabbits, Watership Down (film) - (1978) Captain Holly was a rabbit who was Captain of the Sandleford Owsla. He was second in command to the Threarah, and would never have joined the rabbits attempting to flee Sandleford. He tried to arrest Bigwig and the rest of the rabbits who were leaving but Bigwig and some of the others attacked him. Hazel told him if he did not go then they would kill him. Holly is next met in the book on the bottom of Watership Down, crying out "Zorn!" (which means finished, gone) Because he continually cried it out, as well as calling out Bigwig's name, Bigwig thought it was the Black Rabbit of Inle. Mastering his own fear, Hazel went up and found an exhausted Captain Holly, a rabbit who Hazel never expected to find in such a state. He, Bluebell, Pimpernel, and Toadflax were the last survivors of the Sandleford Warren when the men destroyed it. They left the destroyed warren, and Toadflax soon died. They ran into the Warren of Snares (a.k.a. Cowslip's) where the Snare Rabbits (a.k.a. Cowslip's rabbits) ambushed them and attacked! However, Holly threatened to kill Cowslip if he didn't tell him where Bigwig and Hazel were. Cowslip struggled to get away, but then soon gave up. He and his Snare Rabbits told the "Hollilians" that Hazel and his group were going "to the Hills". Meanwhile, Holly cuffed Cowslip, and he and Bluebell fled to a nearby area. But alas! They'd forgotten poor Pimpernel. Pimpernel was left behind, and in the novel, was figured either supposedly killed or forced into the evil world of Cowslip and his Snare Rabbits. On the Down Bluebell sensed danger. He tried to get Holly to move but couldn't, so he fled to a bush. Holly led Silver, Buckthorn , and Strawberry, to Efrafa to get does and bring them back to Watership Down. But they failed and came back with no does. Holly brought the all three back alive, but Strawberry was ill from exhaustion, and Buckthorn was wounded in the face. In the book, he is the one whose two stories are quintessential messages of survival, both when he reiterates his story of flight from Sandleford and his journey to and from Efrafa. Because of Holly, Hazel's position of leader is strengthened, both after Holly tells of the destruction of Sandleford and after Holly warns against returning to Efrafa. Holly becomes the chief of scouts at the Watership Down Warren. He mates with one of the Hutch rabbits Clover in the absence of the majority of the warren in Efrafa. Holly has confidence in Silver from the Sandleford Owsla, because he could tell Silver what he couldn't tell Hazel or Bigwig. He also had a healthy respect for Bigwig. In the 1978 movie adaptation, Holly's two main adventures, the escape from the destroyed warren and the journey of Efrafa, are merged into one horrific tale. Seeing as both events were catastrophic on Captain Holly's psyche, it is unlikely the Holly we see in the book would have survived those two ordeals as one. Category:Rabbits Category:Males Category:Watership Down (book) characters Category:Film characters Category:TV series characters Category:Bucks